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Offered languages
- English
This Uganda gorilla adventure explores the untamed jungles of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to find a mountain gorilla family and spend one electrifying hour silently observing their evolutionary life in the wild. You’ll travel by air across southwestern’s Tuscan-like landscape and stay at an exclusive forest hideaway on a ridge above the pristine rainforest.
The adventure includes an off-the-beaten-path experience in the remote villages surrounding Bwindi. You’ll take a traditional dug-out canoe across a gorgeous lake surrounded by breathtaking mountainous views. Walk through cultivated gardens of steep slopes, passing villagers ploughing the gardens, and hike through remote villages with kids chanting their excitement on seeing you.
You’ll also have a chance to explore the region on foot and cross the jungle on a 7-km trail. The trail offers a dramatic, steeply forested landscape and is incredibly dense but crisscrossed by numerous animal trails allowing access to tourists.
What's Included
Lunch
Dinner
Breakfast
Meeting and pickup
Our driver will be at the airport to pick you up from the exit and transfer you to the lodge in Entebbe.
Please let us know which hotel in Entebbe we can pick you up.
Itinerary
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1
Take a speed canoe on Lake Victoria to find the prehistoric Shoebill among the Mabamba Swamps. If you're fortunate, you'll see the incredible bird but also, you can spot other swamp inhabitants instead.
2 hours • Admission ticket free -
2Kisoro
Walk from Kisoro through the city market, communities, villages, and terraced gardens to Lake Mutanda for a canoeing adventure.
1 hour • Admission ticket free -
3Lake Mutanda
Take a canoe ride across one of the most stunning rifts valley lakes with incredible scenery. Your ride will be guided in a dug-out traditional canoe across Lake Mutanda.
2 hours • Admission ticket included -
4
After your canoe ride, have lunch at Mutanda Lake Resort and continue on an optional 9km nature walk to Rubuguri Junction for pick-up to transfer to the lodge.
3 hours • Admission ticket included -
5Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Eat an early energy-giving breakfast, preferably fruits and cereal; you’ll need the energy during your trek. You’ll get a lunch pack at the lodge, and your driver will have you at the Nkuringo visitor center by 7:30 am for the briefing session. After the briefing, the warden selects travelers in groups of eight people and assigns a gorilla group based on their physical ability. He’ll also offer you a walking stick and advise you to take a porter. For 20 bucks, please take one of the locals; you may need them to pull you muddy slopes or carry your backpack—besides, it’s a great way to support the surrounding communities. You will then join two armed rangers and an expert guide on the trekking trail till you disappear under the unmarked forest canopy. The trek can be quite challenging and can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours to locate the habituated gorillas. You’ll be allowed to spend 60 minutes with the gorillas when you find them.
7 hours • Admission ticket free -
6
Spend the rest of the evening relaxing at the lodge or take an evening sundowner to the top of the world - the name given to the football field, high up in Nkuringo which offers amazing views over the peaks and forests around Nkuringo. A great way to stretch your legs after the gorilla tracking and to enjoy a sundowner.
2 hours • Admission ticket not included -
7
This morning after a hearty breakfast, enjoy birding in Nombe Pocket Forest – it was part of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and it is still quite impenetrable, however, it was cut off from it as people needed more land to live on and cultivate. It can be reached on foot
3 hours • Admission ticket included -
8Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
This part of the adventure will immerse you in the majestic enchantments of the ancient wilderness, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With luck on your side, some of the backwood dwellers like chimps, forest elephants, duikers, forest buffalo, and various primates will cross your path. Otherwise, look out for the unique overgrown plant species and dazzling colorful butterflies of over 300 species. Birds such as African green broadbill, great blue turaco, Grauer’s swamp warbler, Turner’s Eremomela, Shelley’s crimson wing, and Chapin’s flycatcher flying under the canopy will definitely capture your eye. You’ll cross rivers, streams, shaky bridges, climb fallen stumps and walk through damp forest floors connecting you to sapiens’ origins. However, at the other end, your driver will be ready to whisk you off, driving you through dreamy landscapes and delivering you to your luxury forest cottage hagging above the impenetrable jungle you just conquered.
5 hours • Admission ticket free -
9
Transfer from Mahogany springs Lodge to Kisoro airstrip for your local flight to Entebbe. The flight takes 1 hour.
2 hours • Admission ticket free
Arrive in Entebbe (Optional - Shoebill Tracking)
Fly Entebbe to Kisoro with Aerolink (Community Hiking & Canoeing on Lake Mutanda)
The Gorilla Trekking Experience
Community Tour, Nature Walk
Hike Across Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Fly Kihihi to Entebbe
Additional info
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Minimum age is 15 years
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Additional info
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Minimum age is 15 years
- Multi-lingual guide available at extra fee
- Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
- Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
- Availability for shows cannot be checked without making a booking. Credit cards will only be charged upon confirmation of show availability
- Passport name, number, expiry and country is required at time of booking for all participants
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
Tags
Cancellation Policy
If you cancel at least 6 full day(s) before the scheduled departure time, you will receive a full refund.
If you cancel between 2 and 6 day(s) before the scheduled departure time, you will receive a 50% refund.
If you cancel within 2 day(s) of the scheduled departure, you will receive a 0% refund.
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Cancellation Policy
- For a full refund, you must cancel at least 6 full days before the experience’s start time.
- For a 50% refund, you must cancel 2–6 full days before the experience’s start time.
- If you cancel less than 2 full days before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
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